* New York, New York (Yankees)

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

The weekly pub previews why the Bombers should succeed in the post-season in its Aug. 31 issue.

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* The Amazin' Mets Plus 40

2009 title

Weather permitting, the Mets will honor their 1969 World Championship team. George Vescey wrote an excellent column in yesterday’s New York Times. Which sent me to my library to see what I’ve got specifically on that momentous event. Mant books about the team include a look back at that first championship, but the following titles […]

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* TWIBB — Aug. 21

2008 title

This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, August 21. Title Rank General Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis 1 Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, Appel 2 The Yankee Years, Torre and Verducci 3 Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, […]

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* Jim Bouton: Still crazy after all these years?

Annoucements

Some 40 years ago, Jim Bouton published what many consider to be the most important baseball book of all time. This Sunday, the MLB Network’s Studio 42 will host a conversation with Bouton  at 8 p.m. Bob Costas will be doing the honors as Bouton discusses his MLB career as well as his relationship with […]

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* Review/Profile: Lou Brissie

2008 title

The Athens (GA) Banner Gazette published this piece on Brissie, the subject of Ira Berkow’s The Corporal Was a Pitcher. The former major leaguer will be at the Borders on Alps Rod in Athens on Aug. 22 at 1 p.m. For information, call 706-583-8647.

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* Piazza: Did he or didn't he?

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Use PED, of course. That’s one of the topics of Murray Chass’s Aug. 16 column, in he he ponders the advisability of a Mike Piazza auto-bio. I quote, at length: Several months ago I heard that Piazza may be doing a book. The publisher, Simon & Schuster, I was told, had signed a contract for […]

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* In praise of baseball books

Biography

The legendary Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell published this piece praising the improved quality of baseball literature in his Free Press column of Aug. 16. Among the titles mentioned (just to name a few) are Jonathan Eig’s Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First […]

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* It gets late early this time of year

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

To paraphrase that eminent philsopher Berra. You know your team is doing poorly when its home town newspaper starts giving them a box with just a few paragraphs, as The New York Times print edition did for last night’s 10-1 Mets loss to the Giants. Haven’t done a line-by-line comparison, but here’s the Web version, […]

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* The Moneyball film: Not dead, just resting

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

As per this piece from The Playlist blog. These questions were aimed at Pitt on a red carpet stop (a horrible, soulless place to conduct a mini, 30-second interview) so don’t expect anything too earth shattering. But he was asked if he thinks the “Moneyball project can be salvaged and go into extra innings. “My […]

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* Review: Moneyball

Classic title

From HowtoWatchSports.com. Upshot: The story, non-fiction, is about Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane and how he outsmarted the rest of Major League Baseball to build a competitive team on a tiny salary budget. It talks about Beane’s failures as a player in the big leagues, and his rise to glory as a GM. Along […]

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* Belated congrats, Rickey Henderson.

Biography

Henderson became the latest first-ballot Hall of Famer this year. What a day May 1, 1991 was: Henderson becomes the all-time stlen base cham, and Nolan Ryan tosses his seventh and final no-hiter. Henderson took some criticism because of his “I-am-the-greatest” boast, while Ryan quietly accepted the accolades for his accomplishment. You just know a […]

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* A day late and a dollar short

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

Come on, Mets fans, how many of you cringed when you saw David Wright go down as the result of a Matt Cain fastball to the head? And this a couple of days after this piece in which he said he would use the new, more protective batting helmet if it was available? And also, […]

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* I wonder if Gibson will knock Jackson off the podium?

2009 title

Here’s an unlikely project, due out next month from Doubleyday: Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson have collaborated on Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk about How the Game is Played, written with Lonnie Wheeler, whose previous boosk include Hank Aaron’s autobiography, I […]

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* New blogs of interest

Bloggers

Today in Baseball: “What happened on this date in baseball history?” Bardball.com: “Reviving the Art of Baseball Doggerel” And don’t forget to check in occasionally to FlipFlopFlyin.com, which offers some thought-provoking graohcis of baseball questions.

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* TWIBB — Aug. 14

2009 title

This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, August 14. Title Rank General Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, Appel 1 Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis 2 Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, Tye 3 The Yankee Years, Torre and […]

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* This week (Aug. 17) in Sports Illustrated

Magazines

Player poll: Which opposing hitter do you fear most with the game on the line? Joe Sheehan on the Red Sox (“They’re not dead, they’re just restin’“)

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* Lest we forget: Merlyn Mantle

Lest We Forget

The poster girl for ill-treated baseball wives passed away on Monday at the age of 77.

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* Because you can keep a batting helmet on your bookshelf…

"Ripped from today's headlines..."

This piece on a new generation of protective gear from The New York Times. The macho-ness of the athlete still prefers cool over safety. But ask some of the poor guys who were badly injured by bean balls to see if they might not have wanted one of these babies. …[I]t is hard to predict […]

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* The old ball game

2009 title

The current issue of American Heritage Magazine incldues this story on the early days of the game adapted from Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress by Harry Katz, Frank Ceresi, Phil Michel, Wilson McBee and Susan Reyburn (HarperCollins Publishers).

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* Maybe this blog should change its name

Business of baseball

WallStCheatSheet ran this interview with former ML pitcher, now stock trader Todd Stottlemyre. With all the noise about steroids and Bernie Maddof, perhasp its time to think about the branding image they’re putting out. Damien: Since you were never pigeonholed as “Todd the baseball player” or “Todd the student,” when you moved through your baseball […]

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